In October, Russellville's Connect Church welcomed a new minister into its community.

James Mitchell, Connect Church's new youth minister, moved from Duncan, Okla., the site of his last ministry service. Now in his ninth month as the church's youth minister, Mitchell said he has great hopes for Connect Church's youth ministry.

"By the end of this past school year, we had about 50-55 students in our ministry," Mitchell said. "I have a goal, and that is to have at least 100 students every week by the end of 2015."

Mitchell, 37, has many visions for his future in the youth ministry, and he hopes to see them come to life. But those visions were not always there, he said.

Spending much of his childhood in Fort Smith, Mitchell said his late high school and early college years were key in forging of his future and shaped him into the youth minister he is today.

"I was raised in a Christian home," Mitchell said. "I can remember very few Sundays when I wasn't in church. Then, right after high school, my parents divorced. It was really unexpected and it left us all in shock."

A pre-law student at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro at the time, Mitchell said the aftershocks resulting from his parents' separation continued to resonate in his life.

"During this time, the recovery process was really long," Mitchell said. "It wasn't one of those things that you just wake up the next day and it's over. I grew closer to God during that time, because He was my stability. And I never let go."

Mitchell later found himself called away from his pre-law studies. Transferring to Hillsdale College in Moore, Okla., he continued his undergraduate career as a theology major.

While in Oklahoma, Mitchell met and married his wife, Shawna, who assists him in the youth ministry. After graduating, the Mitchells embarked on their life journey through the youth ministry — a journey that would call for them to uproot their family and relocate on four occasions.

"It was rough at times," Mitchell said. "But we've had so many points in our life where we have been blessed and where we could see God's hand at work in our lives. At one point, my wife and I even took a shift at pastoring a church in Kansas City, Mo., but we just didn't feel that was our calling. So we went back to teaching church youth."

According to Mitchell, his move to Russellville — his fifth and most recent move — was planned, yet unexpected. Prior to leaving his church home in Duncan, Okla., he said he and his wife felt it was their time to move on.

"We had done everything we could for our youth in Duncan," Mitchell said. "We had brought them as far as we could with what we were able, and then we knew it was time for someone else to come in and take up the work.

"Anyway, I had posted my resume on a job search site for pastors. The next morning, I got up and got in my car to go to work, and I got the call from the minister at Free Will [now Connect Church]. We didn't know each other, but we seemed to know all of the same people. It was just amazing how that worked out, and so we just took it from there."

Mitchell said the moving process carries evidence of God's handiwork, as each necessary puzzle piece seemed to fall in place at just the right time.

"I really can't explain the way that it all worked out," Mitchell said. "But we were able to close on our house in Duncan on the exact same day that we were packed up and ready to move to Russellville. The only way something like that happens is through God, or through an amazing set of coincidence. I don't believe in coincidence."

Now settled into his new job, Mitchell said he feels he is in the right place.

"Everything that opened to me as an opportunity here matches up with my visions," Mitchell said. "It's wonderful. The former youth minister laid a great foundation for me to work with, and with me being a guy who'd rather not reinvent the wheel, I will do what I can with the system that's already here."

For more information, visit Connect Church's website at myconnectchurch.cc or call (479)968-6966.